Long Whitefish Poems

The Great Lakes Engineering Works built a new boat
S. S. Edmund Fitzgerald, t'would soon be afloat
The people that owned her needed a name
President of the company was given that fame.

One of the largest boats to...

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He sang of the wreck of 1975
Memorializing sailors who didn't survive 
Honouring heroes in the story he tells
Visiting the cathedral still ringing its bells
29 chimes every year for their souls
The Mariners church where the solemn...

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My hands are busy with today, 
but my thoughts hang back 
in the humid air of a deceptive 
yesterday; to dinner and the jungle heat 
congealed under umbrellas, 
stained with the residue of city traffic,...

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I think of  the holidays with my parents,
Each summer we would go on holidays together

I remember the beautiful North Bay cottage,
There was an old-fashioned stove.

Our mother would cook delicious food for us,
You could walk...

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He walked up from the lake
Throwing open the door of the glorious day
Like a smiling OB-GYN snapping off his gloves
With a toolbox in hand
Delivered to my dad the good news.

“I’m certain this new ignition will...

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Why are the sea gulls shopping here,
if not for "White Stag, No Boundaries" or 
"Faded Glory?" Is there some other story? 
Coffee, tea, or you, or just practicing beach 
and gray-sky calls over concrete, carts
and...

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Why are the sea gulls shopping here, if not
for "White Stag, "No Boundaries." or "Faded Glory?"
Is there some other story?  Coffee, Tea or You,
or just practicing beach and gray-sky calls
over concrete, carts, and Handicapped...

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walking away satisfied
returning home fully recharged
that will change come thursday morning
i will focus my brain on forgetting....until the alarm goes off
as i unpack, i begin to think about how blessed i really am
my friend maurice...

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The company was wonderful;
The meal was quite delish,
All lovingly prepared except
The jarred gefilte fish.

But certain things you have to have – 
Tradition reigns supreme – 
And years ago, gefilte fish
Was added to the scheme.

Of course,...

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If you’d compare my fridge and yours
You’d marvel at the food each stores
For everybody’s taste’s unique, 
So open up – let’s have a peek.

I’ve orange juice and lots of cheese
And coffee (Starbuck’s, if you please).
Butter,...

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Steering our boat across the moon glow
Like a fork stabbed through cream
We careen in the sheen of upside down light at 3:30 A.M.

The July night tries to close on us like a lid

The result of...

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For Terry Flood,* since you insist,
Here, in rhyme’s my shopping list:

Orange juice and Starbuck’s (iced,
Even though it’s overpriced),

Bagels, Swiss and muenster cheese,
Whitefish salad, frozen peas,

Broccoli and salad greens,
Carrots, berries, nectarines,

Melons, muffins, chocolate treats,
Licorice or gummy...

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There was a store in Brooklyn selling
Food we’d often crave.
The owners were a couple
Known to all as Ruth and Dave.

On weekends I was sent there
Walking just a few short blocks
To buy bagels, cream cheese, whitefish
And...

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at the old fishing lake
In a kingdom full of whitefish
And the mussels are never filleting.
~
at the old fishing lake
I remember I was oystering
That moment my soul grew scalloping
~
And the estuaries never reefing 
Mudfish - mudfish...

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In memory of the SS Edmond Fitzgerald
November 10, 1975
Seventeen miles Northwest of Whitefish Point, Michigan
Lake Superior

Twenty-nine crew men are cradled
in a watery grave
no distress calls were ever heard
no bodies ever recovered
the gales of November turned...

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